Location: London, UK
I initially thought it was a cockroach based on the underside, but when I flipped it over I could see a distinctive pattern (I enhanced it to show what it looked like).
It also had relatively big circular eyes on each side of its head.
It was roughly about half an inch and appeared to be matte in texture.
It appears to be a true bug in the family Lygaeidae. It resembles some in the genus Nysius, but these all are smaller than 1/2 inch - see http://www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/Lygaeidae/nysius_thymi.html for an example.
That family looks very much identical!
I misjudged the size, but that's definitely the family! The patterns are pretty much identical.
This one looks the closest I'd say:
http://www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/Lygaeidae/heterogaster%20_urticae.html
Thanks very much!
